Francisco Ventoso (Carmiooro-NGC) won the fifth and final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia/Ruta del Sol in a sprint at the front of what remained of the peloton. He beat a brace of Australians in the shape of Simon Gerrans (Team Sky) and Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) into second and third, respectively.
Rogers’ podium rivals Jurgen Van den Broeck (OmegaPharma-Lotto) and Sergio Pardilla (Carmiooro-NGC) finished in the same group as the three-time World time trial champion. Neither was able to make any time up on the Australian so he sealed up his bid for the overall classification. This was Rogers’ first stage race win in Europe since he won the Tour of Belgique, the Deutschland Tour and the Route du Sud in 2003.
The breakaway of the day featured Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), Brice Feillu (Vacansoleil), Angel Vicioso (Andalucia-CajaSur), Marco Marzano (Lampre-Farnese Vini). They were joined by Vicioso’s Andalucia-Cajasur teammates Antonio Piedra and Jose Angel Gomez Marchante to make six riders up front.
Chasing down the move was made difficult because three of HTC-Columbia's riders, Konstantsin Sivtsov, Michael Albasini and Hayden Roulston, all crashed mid-stage. Rogers was delighted with his win saying afterwards, "It was a pretty tough day but the team were super and we never panicked."
On the climb to the Puerto del Torcal the front group began to splinter with Feillu, Vicioso and Wiggins dropping the other three, but the advantage over the fracturing peloton was now less than a minute. Rogers still had plenty of support in the main group which was reduced to just 26 riders. With 20km to go the breakaway was caught.
With its team leader Wiggins back in the main group, Team Sky took the lead on behalf of Gerrans with 15km to go. As the rain started inside the closing stages it was Rogers’ HTC-Columbia team moving to the front to keep the Australian out of trouble. On the slightly uphill finish it was Ventoso who proved fastest, with Gerrans unable to come around him. The two detached themselves from the peloton slightly; Rogers led the rest of the group home with the remainder of the peloton following more than 5 minutes later.
Result stage 5
1. Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Carmiooro-NGC
2. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Team Sky
3. Michael Rogers (Aus) HTC-Columbia
4. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank
5. Jens Voigt (Ger) Saxo Bank
6. Simon Geschke (Ger) Skil-Shimano
7. Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Carmiooro-NGC
8. Manuel Vazquez (Spa) Andalucia-CajaSur
9. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto
10. Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil
Final standings after stage 5
1. Michael Rogers (Aus) HTC-Columbia
2. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto @ 19s
3. Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Carmiooro-NGC @ 30s